Cola Hazuki (Kaoru Nakahara) -- Day In Vacation

 

Back in the 1980s, Japan and Coca-Cola pretty much equaled good times in the big city as you can see above. All the more reason to grab the fizzy stuff. Ironically, I don't drink it nearly as much as I used to since the rest of my family prefers the clear stuff: Canada Dry, 7-Up, Sprite, etc.

As I mentioned in my last article regarding singer-songwriter Kaoru Nakahara（中原薫）, she'd been given the rather appropriate if somewhat cringey stage name of Cola Hazuki（葉月コーラ）earlier in her career because she'd become known at the turn of the decade from the 1980s into the 1990s as someone who sang a lot of cola jingles. Hey, if the gigs pay the rent...

In June 1991, Cola Hazuki and comedian Kanpei Hazama（間寛平）put out a single titled "Anata dake wo"（あなただけを...Only You） as the ending theme song for one of Hazama's variety shows. However for this article, I wanted to focus on the coupling song which Hazuki handles on her own called "Day In Vacation". If the song sounds familiar, then you must have heard the original version by the summery supergroup Nagisa no All-Stars（渚のオールスターズ）when they recorded it back in 1989.

Nagisa no All-Stars included the band TUBE and at least a couple of their beloved songwriters, Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）and Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）, and not surprisingly, those two were the ones behind the creation of "Day In Vacation". Hazuki gives the song her summery best as well and perhaps I'm imagining things here, but it even sounds a bit ZARD-ish. Furthermore, my timing isn't too bad either because next week will introduce the annual Golden Week holidays in Japan. Enjoy guzzling down that Coke!

Kaoru Nakahara -- Mou Ichido Ai Shitakute（もう一度愛したくて）

 

This article can probably come down under the banner of "Don't judge a book by its cover". Years ago on KKP, I posted an article on somewhat obscure singer-songwriter Kaoru Nakahara（中原薫）and her refined love song "Sabishigariya Futari Bocchi"（淋しがりやふたりぼっち）from 1995. As I mentioned there, I bought the CD single based on what I heard nightly on the late-night docu-vignette "Rooms" on Fuji-TV. It is basically the only song that I know of her and so my impression has been that Nakahara was a singer of ballads.

Well, twelve-and-a-half years later, I've gotten my education. Nakahara also released one (and perhaps her only) album in June 1996 titled "Dolce". It not only has "Sabishigariya Futari Bocchi" but it has this very upbeat track called "Mou Ichido Ai Shitakute" (I Want to Fall in Love Again). Written by Nakahara and composed by Yasushi Suzuki（鈴木康志）, it feels like a night out on the city set to a dance club rhythm. I even got some Cathy Dennis vibes. 

In the midst of writing up this article, I also got a bonus in terms of information and music. For one thing, according to one Ameba blog, Nakahara had once been known as aidoru Hiroe Sato（佐藤弘枝）about a decade previously. It's possible that Sato only released one single titled "Sepia Iro no Natsu"（セピア色の夏...Sepia Summer） in May 1985. Written by Hitoshi Shinohara（篠原仁志）, composed by Eiji Takino（たきのえいじ）under his pseudonym Hifumi Roku*（緑一二三）, and arranged by Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）, the vocals by Sato/Nakahara are certainly very familiar and similar, and the song stands out for the use of a soprano sax and a galloping beat that sounds like something the late Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）would use.

Apparently, soon after the release of "Sepia Iro no Natsu", Sato pulled a disappearing act and wouldn't return for several years until she made her re-debut as Cola Hazuki（葉月コーラ） (she was singing for Coca-Cola ads at the time) in 1991. And then two years later, she changed her name to Kaoru Nakahara.

*That family name has a number of readings, so my choice is a guess. If anyone can confirm or correct me on the reading, please let me know.

Kaoru Nakahara -- Sabishigariya Futari Bocchi （淋しがりやふたりぼっち）

Not quite sure what late-night TV is like in your countries. In Canada and the US, it's often filled with talk shows such as "Late Night With David Letterman" or "The Tonight Show" and infomercials. On the other hand, in Japan, there is a bit more variety in terms of the content. Late-night variety shows could run anywhere from 30-90 minutes and could be a bit more racy about the content; music ranking shows and sports highlight programs were there for the young folk, and then there were these rather specialized 5-10 vignette shows. One of them that I used to catch on Fuji-TV back almost 2 decades ago was an interesting show called "Rooms", and it was broadcast sometime after midnight on the weeknights. Basically, the camera focused on one person's individualistic 1K apartment somewhere in one of the big cities (usually Tokyo) while the resident gave out his thoughts. Then, in the last couple of minutes, there'd be some odd poetry reading by one of the Fuji announcers followed by an ending theme that would change every few months.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=egoIx33uYRI

It was from "Rooms" that I found out about TRF's "Samui Yoru Dakara"（寒い夜だから） and "Chiisana Koro Kara"（小さな頃から） by Judy & Mary. They rather acted like my lullabies before I turned off the telly. But there was also this entry by Kaoru Nakahara（中原薫）titled "Sabishigariya Futari Bocchi" (The Lonely Couple). This was her 2nd single released in 1995 and was composed by Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）with lyrics by Nakahara herself. I was rather taken by this lush ballad as "Rooms" ended with a sunset view of Tokyo, and I noticed how similar Nakahara sounded to Zard's Izumi Sakai. There were a few more viewings of "Rooms" before I decided that I had to get the CD single.

I wonder if Fuji-TV ever decided to release "Rooms" on DVD.

Kaoru Nakahara -- Sabishigariya Futari Bocchi